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Show 553: Susan Blackmore

Equal Time welcomes Susan Blackmore back to the show!

Where can you draw a line between spirituality and (scientific) skepticism? Is there a way to find a balance between the two without believing in supernaturalism? How does the new work in consciousness studies and neuroscience help us better understand what is “real” or imagined?

On this show, ex parapsychologist, current psychologist and scientific skeptic Susan Blackmore will discuss her own experience as well a her recent books, The Meme Machine, and Seeing Myself (about OBE’s).

Audio can be found here!

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Show 550: ‘Women Beyond Belief’ w/ Karen Garst

What are the ties today between feminism and atheism? Why do women, who are often the victims of patriarchal religious “morality”, fail to leave religious indoctrination more than men? How can one better understand why they believe, and how they might de-convert from the magical thinking religious belief demands? And what kind of stories have women who have left the “faith”, told?

This week, new guest host Jessica Schab interviews author and former Christian, Karen Garst on her debut book, Women Beyond Belief: Discovering Life without Religion — a collection of stories from 22 women who have left religion in their past.

Audio can be found here!

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Show 428: William Gardner on Handling Truth

William Gardner on Handling Truth

Audio here!

Why is truth such a hard thing to handle? Why do different people assert different things to be true, with equal certainty? Dr. William Gardner discusses four kinds of truths, which he calls Rhetorica, Mystica, Logica, and Empirica… and why they don’t always get along.

Also, why is it important to distinguish one kind from another, and – most importantly – how can someone living in today’s sea of information navigate the riptides of truths? And does it matter to the way we see the universe and the human condition if we never get to the truth?

We will discuss these questions with Dr. William M. Gardner, author of Handling Truth: Navigating the Riptides of Rhetoric, Religion, Reason, and Research. Gardner received a Ph.D. in General Experimental Psychology from the University of Alabama; he spent a year studying language at the University of Wisconsin, and occasionally during his teaching career took courses in philosophy.  His research topics included animal behavior, comparative learning, personality, childcare institutions, and academic honesty.